Salty Sweet
by MysticalGoddessOfWords
Summary: It's barely a month after Walter and Paige's wedding and the newlyweds are settling in nicely. But when Toby makes an observation about Paige's bizarre eating habits, all hell breaks loose. Sequel to Gauguin.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Scorpion. I'm just borrowing and playing with the characters for a while.

Okay…. so I lied…. this first sequel to Gauguin is not a one-shot. It's going to be two chapters. This one is set approximately a month after the end of Gauguin.

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed that story and all my stories. It makes my heart happy.

* * *

 ** _Salty Sweet_**

"Hey, 197, wake up!"

Walter's body jerked awake and his elbow gave out, sliding across the table into his coffee cup, sending it toppling over. Fortunately it was empty.

"What the hell, Toby?" Walter snapped as he shook his head. He looked around disoriented as he realized the sun was up. The last thing he remembered it was still dark out.

Toby snickered as he sat in the chair across the table from him and put his feet up on the corner.

"What are you doing working on this side of the garage? Your desk not good enough anymore?" Toby asked as he bit into the jelly donut in his hand.

"I was working on an experiment," Walter motioned to the table a short ways away with a beaker of yellow orange liquid sitting next to a fume hood. "I was trying to keep it contained to this side of the garage."

Toby glanced at the other table before taking another bite of his donut. "What the hell are you doing anyway?"

"Chemometric qualitative analysis," Walter replied as he rubbed his eyes and looked back at the screen of his laptop.

"Boring," Toby said around the food in his mouth.

Walter pursed his lips and rolled his eyes before focusing on the words on his screen. "Then why did you ask? And why are you bothering me?"

"I'm not interested in you," Toby said nonchalantly. "I just came over to see if you could tell me what's going on with Mrs. O'Brien."

"I don't know what you mean," Walter said as he scanned the last few paragraph's he'd typed, before he'd apparently fallen asleep, and then continued on with his thought process from earlier.

"Oh, I think you might," Toby said in a leading tone as he tossed the last of his donut into his mouth.

"I really don't," Walter said as he looked up briefly, annoyed that Toby was bothering him, but he knew the behaviorist wouldn't stop until Walter engaged him. "What is she doing?"

"She's dipping French fries in strawberry ice cream," Toby said with a straight face.

"I'm sorry, what?" Walter blinked and shook his head as he processed what Toby just said.

"She's dipping French fries into strawberry ice cream," Toby said again as his lips gave in and curved into a smirk.

"Toby, that's repulsive." Walter scoffed with disgust.

"She's _your_ wife. And it's only seven o'clock in the morning. Who the hell eats that shit at seven in the morning?"

"Why aren't you asking her?"Walter replied as he glanced at his notes beside his keyboard and then went back to typing.

"Well Mrs. O'Brien isn't always approachable in the mornings these days so I thought I'd ask you," Toby replied as he adjusted his hat on his head.

"Why do you keep calling her that?" Walter shot Toby an annoyed look.

"Calling her what?"

"Mrs. O'Brien." Walter's tone matched his look as he replied.

"It's her name."

"You know very well that she still uses the name Dineen."

Toby waved his hand dismissively. "Only for professional purposes at Scorpion but she legally changed her name to O'Brien… therefore she is _Mrs. O'Brien_."

Paige had legally changed her name after they got back from their brief honeymoon. After their wedding in Tahiti, they returned home to Los Angeles, where they actually put Ralph on a plane to Portland. Then Walter surprised Paige one last time as he lead her to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX and he took her to Paris for a week. She'd always wanted to visit the Louvre and since he'd already had to endure more art than he had ever wanted in his lifetime, Walter decided to indulge his new wife once again. And she certainly rewarded his effort, more than adequately, all during their time in Paris.

Once they returned to LA, she had her name legally changed to O'Brien, although they mutually decided it would be best for her to continue using Dineen at Scorpion. She debated for a while whether or not to change her name because she didn't want Ralph to feel separate from her and Walter. But the fifteen year old just rolled his eyes, which was something he was doing more and more lately, and told his mom not to be ridiculous and to take Walter's name already.

However, quietly, a few days later Ralph approached Walter about the possibility of changing his name legally to O'Brien too. It wasn't that he felt left out, he had always viewed Walter as a father figure, but he didn't have Drew's name so he didn't feel he owed it to his biological father to keep a name they didn't share.

Although Walter didn't subscribe to the sentimentality of the desire to share names, he was touched by Ralph's request, and welcomed the idea of the boy, he considered a son, also taking his name. But he told the young genius they needed to do their research and have their arguments tight if they were going to present the request to Paige.

They were currently very close to presenting their case to her. She and Drew weren't married when Ralph was born, in fact Drew was on the road and not even there when Paige gave birth. He didn't arrive until the next day, after he finished his game, and long after the birth certificate was filled out and filed. But even though she gave Ralph her last name, a little out of spite she had once confided to Walter, she did, at least, list Drew as the father on it.

As a result, Paige was required by law to inform Drew if she intended to change Ralph's surname, as least until he turned eighteen, at which time Ralph could change it himself with no one's permission. So Drew was going to have to be brought into the process and Walter suspected he would probably object, if for no other reason than to spite him. Walter had already consulted an attorney because he wanted to have all the information for Paige to make her decision and he and Ralph were planning to bring it up to her the following weekend.

"Are we not at Scorpion," Walter gestured to the garage around him in response.

"Why are you so cranky?" Toby inquired as he looked closer. "And why do you look like a mack truck hit you? Did you pull an all nighter or something?"

Walter shook his head. "No. I've only been down here since about three thirty."

"Are you and Mrs. O'Brien fighting?" Toby asked curiously.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Because you're a newlywed and if you're awake at three thirty in the morning you should be conducting very different kinds of experiments. And they should involve you and your new bride very naked."

Walter kept his face impassive as he continued typing. Toby had no idea how much time he and Paige spent naked, especially recently. In the month since he and Paige had been married, his new wife had been pushing the limits of their endurance in the bedroom. She was insatiable, it seemed, and they'd gone from having sex an average of three times a week to almost daily, sometimes more than once.

They always had what one would consider a healthy sex life. Both he and Paige made that aspect of their relationship a priority and Walter certainly wasn't complaining. No man, genius or not, would, in his right mind, complain about having a wife who enjoyed sex as much as Paige did. And Walter had always been extremely disciplined, focused, and able to pace himself and maintain his stamina, so he was able to keep up with her amorous advances. But lately, in the last several weeks, she'd been pushing the limits of even his endurance.

He needed only a few hours of sleep a night but he usually left her in bed, sated and exhausted, so he could continue to work on his projects. But where he used to, eventually, return to bed hours later to find her sleeping soundly, she, now, very often rolled over as soon as he fell into bed beside her, seeking him out again. And who was he to refuse the beautiful woman who desired him so intensely. But he was beginning to wonder just how long he and his body were going to be able to keep it up. More than once his body had not been able to perform but fortunately his mouth and fingers could satisfy her when his body failed him.

When Walter didn't offer up any kind of answer Toby repeated. "So again I ask are you and the Mrs. fighting?"

"We're not fighting, Toby," Walter huffed in an annoyed tone. "Don't you have something you should be doing other than bothering me?"

"It's only seven in the morning and we don't have a case yet so the answer to your inquiry is, no, I don't have anything else I need to be doing right now except harassing you." Toby grinned as he tilted the chair onto its two back legs and put he hands behind his head.

"Lucky me," Walter deadpanned as he went back to typing.

Before Toby could respond with a sarcastic retort, Paige walked over carrying Ferret Bueller in one hand and a two French fries covered in strawberry ice cream in the other. She tossed the fries in her mouth as she stopped beside Walter.

"Well hello, Mrs. O'Brien," Toby drawled and he grinned when he saw Walter shake his head in annoyance.

Paige ignored him and held Ferret Bueller out to Walter. "Did you lose something?"

He looked up from his screen. "Huh?"

She looked pointedly down at the ferret and then back at Walter, meeting his eyes.

"I found something of yours," she said as she shook Ferret Bueller gently in front of his face.

"What are you talking about?" he looked at her confused but then his eyes dropped down at the sound of a small clattering on the table in front of him.

His wedding ring.

"Uh," Walter said as he cringed, picked up the ring and slipped it onto his finger. "I took it off because I was working with aqua regia, which is one of the few chemical compounds that have an effect on it."

"Aqua regia is the only thing that will dissolve platinum," Toby offered as he answered the question before Paige had a chance to ask it.

"I didn't want to risk ruining the ring if I got some on my hands," Walter continued as he looked warily at his wife. He had a habit of taking his ring off and she always managed to catch him when he did.

"Not that it would have mattered at that point because it would have dissolved your skin along with it too," Toby added for good measure as he glanced at the other table again and it registered the beaker of acid was outside the fume hood.

Walter shot the behaviorist a glare as Paige tucked Ferret Bueller against her chest. He chattered happily as he started trying to burrow his face down the front of her shirt.

"In fact," Toby said suddenly as he stood up and quickly ushered Paige away from the table.

"Toby, what the hell are you doing?" Paige asked as she shook him off.

"It's not good to inhale it so you should probably step back," Toby insisted as he released her arm.

"It's lost most of its efficacy," Walter said, pursing his lips as started gathering his notes.

"It's still not good for some people, _particularly_ , to inhale it," Toby replied as he walked over to the table with the beaker.

"It's only dangerous to children and pregnant women," Walter said as his brow furrowed. "And as Paige is neither of those things what's the problem?"

Paige sighed and walked back toward the kitchen area, leaving the two geniuses to do what they were going to do.

"Is this bucket of ice to neutralize it?" Toby asked but didn't wait for Walter to answer before he dumped the waste liquid into the bucket and then moved it outside to the back door.

"I guess it's a good thing I was done with that," Walter muttered as he picked his laptop up and walked back toward his desk.

Paige put Ferret Bueller down on one of the chairs and grabbed another French fry and dipped it into her dish of ice cream.

Walter walked up to her and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry I took it off again."

Paige looked at him and although she seemed a bit annoyed she didn't seem angry. That was a good sign.

"I wasn't scolding you for taking it off, Walter," she said as she tossed a fry in her mouth. Walter cringed as she chewed quickly and swallowed before she spoke again. "I was talking about leaving it on the edge of the kitchen sink where Ferret Bueller can find it and abscond with it."

Walter looked down at the ferret in question as he chattered and pawed at Paige's hip. The ferret was obsessed with her and it seemed to only be getting worse since they got home from their honeymoon. He grabbed the small animal and lifted him, scratching around his ears the way he often saw Paige do.

"He was about to run off the counter with it when I caught him."

"I'll be more careful," Walter assured her as he, again, cringed as she grabbed another fry but this time dipped it in a small bowl of chocolate sauce that was beside her ice cream bowl. "What on earth are you eating?"

Paige shrugged. "I just felt like something salty and sweet."

"That's revolting," he said and she shrugged again, not letting him bother her.

"How long have you had those cravings, Mrs. O'Brien?" Toby asked as he walked up to the table.

"Only since yesterday," Paige said absently. "I have no idea where-" But then she stopped mid sentence as she inhaled a sharp breath, the fry in her hand dropping onto the floor.

"So the light finally turns on?" Toby said wryly just as Happy walked into the kitchen.

"What are you blathering on about Doc?" she asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Paige dropped wordlessly into the chair beside her as she stared at the food on the table. Her lips moved silently as she mentally calculated in her head.

"Just waiting for Mrs. O'Brien to do the math," he said cryptically never taking his eyes off the woman in front of him. He'd suspected for about a week but this morning was the clincher when he saw what she was eating for breakfast.

"Will you stop calling her that already? Her name is Paige," Walter snapped as he looked at his wife curiously, a worried frown forming on his lips. "Paige?" Walter said her name apprehensively. "All the color has drained from your face. Are you okay?"

Walter put Ferret Bueller on the table and he scurried over to Paige and hopped into her lap, burrowing against her.

"It's not possible," Paige said absently, more to herself, as she ignored Walter's question and Ferret Bueller as he dove his head down the front of her shirt.

"What isn't possible?" Walter asked as he stepped closer and reached out to set his hand on her shoulder as his eyes raked over her face. "Toby, what's wrong with her?"

"Nothing seven or eight months won't cure," he replied casually as a small smile formed on his lips.

"Toby," Paige snapped as she turned her head and glared at him. "Quit flapping your gums. It's not possible."

"What's not possible?"

"Paige what are you talking about?"

Happy and Walter asked respectively as Toby and Paige stared at each other clearly having a silent conversation.

Finally Toby spoke. "Is the math adding up?"

She nodded her head imperceptibly. Walter crouched down beside her and put his hand on her thigh.

"Paige," he said hesitantly. He'd never seen her like this. Her face was a mask of shock and confusion but her eyes were glassy almost like she was going to cry as she blinked rapidly. "What's going on? You and Toby aren't making any sense."

"Maybe you should take Paige upstairs," Toby suggested using Paige's first name for the first time in weeks. "I'll drop Ralph off at campus for his morning class."

"Doc, you want to tell me what's going on?" Happy asked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the counter, curiously watching the scene in front of her play out.

Walter grabbed Ferret Bueller and pulled him out of Paige's shirt, handing him to Toby who in turn handed him to Happy. Walter took Paige's hand and stood up, pulling her up along with him.

"Come on, love," Walter urged calling her by the term of endearment he now used regularly without thought. "I think Toby's right. Maybe you didn't get enough sleep last night."

Paige yanked her hand out of Walters and turned to Toby. She grabbed him by the lapels of the leather jacket he was wearing. She yanked him toward her. "How could this have happened?" she asked her eyes raking over his face as she looked for any kind of logical answer.

"Paige," Walter said her name, shocked by her behavior. He reached out and gripped her shoulders, pulling her away from Toby but she just pulled the shrink along with her.

Toby stumbled as he replied. "Uh, if you don't know I think I need to have a serious chat with Mr. 197."

"I really wish someone would tell me what the hell is going on?" Happy said as she looked back and forth between the other three just as Sylvester walked over.

"I concur," Walter said his annoyance beginning to show through. "Paige, let Toby go."

"What's going on in here?" Sylvester asked anxiously as he took in the sight of Paige gripping Toby and Walter gripping Paige and Happy looking thoroughly confused as she held a squirming and chattering Ferret Bueller under his arms.

"Toby, I can't be pregnant. I'm on birth control," Paige blurted out, her mouth working faster than her brain and then her eyes widened, as did Toby's, as she released him and pushed him away.

"Oh, shit," Happy muttered as she set Ferret Bueller on the counter.

"Did she just say pregnant?" Sylvester squeaked as Walter's hands dropped from Paige's shoulders.

"Hey, you're the one who let the cat out of the bag, not me," Toby said quickly as he lifted his hands and stepped back away from Paige.

She sighed and closed her eyes getting her bearings before she finally turned and looked at Walter. He was looking at her, his eyes frantically scanning her face before they dropped to her stomach and then quickly returned to her face.

"Walter," she said his name softly, recognizing that look in his eyes. It was the one he got when his brain was on overload.

She reached out her hand but he took a step back, his calf hitting the chair Paige had been sitting in, and he sat down with a quiet thud as his eyes slipped back to Paige's abdomen.

"Oh man, he's shutting down." Paige heard Happy say.

"Is he going to go down the rabbit hole?" Sylvester asked worriedly.

"Will you to be quiet," Toby said. "Give him a minute."

"Walter," Paige said his name again as she stepped closer to him. She lifted her hand and touched his cheek. He blinked his eyes and looked back up at her but didn't reply. "Walter," she said his name again just as Ralph descended the stairs.

"Mom, I'm going to be late for class if we don't leave in five minutes."

Walter's eyes again dropped to her abdomen and Paige sighed and looked over at her son.

"Toby's going to take you this morning."

"Actually I think I should take him. I have a feeling the Doc might need to stay," Happy jumped in as she pushed off the counter. "I'll just go get my keys."

"What's going on?" Ralph looked around the kitchen to see everyone but Toby with a look of shock on their face. "Why does everyone looked like they just found out the theory of stable equilibrium is false?"

"Uh, Ralph, now is probably not the time to ask questions," Sylvester suggested helpfully as he wrung his fingers together anxiously.

"Yeah, your mom and Walter just found out some pretty unexpected news," Toby offered as he kept his eyes on Walter looking for any sign in the genius's eyes that he might be retreating dangerously deep into his mind.

"What kind of news?" Ralph asked as he walked over and picked up Ferret Bueller and scratched down his back causing the little animal to wiggle and chatter happily.

"The kind that two consenting adults should know is possible when they play slappy tickly."

Happy walked up at that moment and slapped Toby on the back of the head as she shook hers. "Don't be a dick, Doc."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Ralph looked at them and then a light bulb went on. "Oh did she finally tell you she's pregnant?"

"Excuse me?"

"What did you say?"

"You knew?"

A chorus of voices filled the room as Paige, Sylvester and Happy all looked at him.

"How the hell did 185 know before 197?" Toby asked referring to Ralph and Walter by their IQ's.

"How did you guys not know?" the young genius asked as he put Ferret Bueller back on the counter. He grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl before turning and looking pointedly at the spread on the table.

"Ralph," Paige took a step toward her son. "I didn't realize I was pregnant."

The teen snorted as he swallowed his bite of apple. "Really? I just thought you were waiting to tell everyone."

"How did you know?" Happy asked curiously.

Ralph shrugged as he glanced at Walter, who was still staring, blankly, at Paige's abdomen, before answering. "She's been acting kinda crazy for weeks. Have none of you noticed this?"

Paige frowned when she noticed everyone in the room, except Walter, nodded their heads tentatively.

"She's moody and eating everything in sight. She's put on weight," Ralph added and Paige hiccupped and then frowned again as Happy, Sylvester and Toby all choked a little before he continued. "She's tired all the time but that could be because she and Walter go at it all night long lately."

"Ralph," Paige scolded him as she looked horrified and he just shrugged as he looked at his mother.

"It's the truth. I finally had to start sleeping with earplugs in because you kept waking me up."

"Oh god," Paige muttered mortified that her son had heard them.

"I was wondering why Walt looked so exhausted lately," Toby mused with a chuckle. "Overactive sex drive is very common in early pregnancy."

"The snoring," Walter said his first words since Paige had blurted out her announcement.

"What?" Paige asked as she turned and looked at him again. He looked up at her and she could practically see his brain working on overdrive.

"Oh, hey, there he is," Toby said. "Glad to have you back with us 197."

"The snoring," Walter said again, ignoring Toby, as he looked down at Paige's stomach then back up at her face. "When I told you in Tahiti that you were snoring during your nap you said you snored the entire time you were pregnant with Ralph."

"Yeah," Paige agreed as she reached out and touched his shoulder gently.

"You snore every night now," he said as he flexed his fingers. He wanted to reach out for her but his arms felt like lead.

Paige dropped down into the chair across from Walter and reached for his hand. She'd noticed him flexing his fingers and knew he needed to touch her. She squeezed his hand gently in return.

"No wonder I've been so horny lately," she mumbled absently as she looked down at her still flat stomach. "My first two trimesters with Ralph I was insatiable."

A strangled sound came from the back of Walter's throat.

"Uh, mom," Ralph's strangled voice matched the tone coming from Walter. "Maybe you should stop talking about sex when you were pregnant with me because you're going to permanently scar your son and give your new husband an aneurysm."

"Ralph we should probably go," Happy suggested as Toby chuckled under his breath.

"Let me just go get my backpack," Ralph replied before he bolted up the stairs.

"Walter," Paige said her husband's name again but his face was an impassive mask as he failed to reply. "I think we need to go upstairs for a little bit."

"That's probably a good idea," Toby said just as the door to the garage opened.

The team looked over expecting it to be Cabe but a collective groan sounded softly as the tall dark haired man entered.

"Drew, what are you doing here?" Paige asked with an exasperated sigh as she stood up.

This was the last thing she needed at the moment. She saw Walter's jaw clench out of the corner of her eye and she reached out and slid her fingers through his hair, gently scratching just above his right ear, which normally calmed him, and she felt him relax slightly beneath her fingers.

"I'm in town for spring training," Drew replied as he walked into the kitchen, oblivious to the situation or the tension in the room. "I sent you an email."

Paige sighed again as she dropped her hand from Walter's hair and turned to face her ex. "Yeah, I saw that in my inbox but I haven't had a chance to read it."

"I sent it last week," he said with a frown as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I've been busy," Paige replied shortly as Sylvester backed subtly out of the kitchen. "You really should have called though. Ralph is about to leave for class so he doesn't have time to see you."

Happy gripped Toby's elbow and tried to nudge him out of the room but he just shook his head and held his ground just as Ralph came back down the stairs.

"Dad?" he said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Does no one read my emails?" Drew complained as he shook his head.

"I've had a couple of projects due so I'm behind on my email. Why didn't you call?" Ralph replied the same was his mother did.

Happy jingled her keys in her hand. "You ready, dude?"

"I'll drive you to campus," Drew offered as he finally appeared to catch on to the tension in the room. His eyes dropped to the table and then widened. "Salty sweet?" he said with surprise as he pointed to the bowl of melting ice cream and the plate of french fries beside it. He looked up at Paige. "Are you pregnant? Is that why the two of you got married?"

Walter's eyes whipped to Ralph's father and he glared at Drew's insinuation.

"Drew," Paige snapped as she, too, glared at her ex.

"Congrats, man," Drew said with a short laugh as he slapped Walter on the back of the shoulder. Walter instantly twisted away from him. "I remember what that was like. Have fun with that," the baseball coach grinned shamelessly.

"Drew, that's enough. You need to go," Paige snapped as she scowled at him and she felt Walter's fingers as he reached out and gripped her thigh. She reached down and pried his fingers away, threading their fingers together.

"Ew," Ralph blanched as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"What? What did I say?" Drew asked as Ralph grabbed his father's forearm.

"Let's go, Dad."

Drew shook his head as he pulled his arm out of Ralph's hand. The teen shrugged and walked toward the door. "I'll meet you in the car," he called over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

"I need to talk to you," Drew said as he looked back at Paige. "It will only take a few minutes."

"Now is not a good time, Drew,"

"But-" he started but Paige interrupted him.

"No, Drew! Not now," she insisted adamantly. "Ralph needs to get to class. Call me," she emphasized the word _call_ , "And we can talk over the phone."

"I'd really rather talk in person," he insisted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Drew, go, now," Paige pointed as she snapped and Walter felt his lips pulling up at the corners. His wife was a glorious site to behold when she was at her breaking point. Unfortunately he was usually the one on the receiving end of her wrath, but that didn't mean he failed to appreciate her in all her glory. And he thoroughly enjoyed seeing that wrath directed at her ex.

"Okay, okay," Drew muttered as he held up his hand. "I remember this part of you being pregnant too," he said quietly as he turned to walk away, but it was not so quiet that everyone didn't hear him.

Walter stood, abruptly, as his eyes shot daggers at his wife's ex. "Watch your mouth, Baker," Walter warned in a low growl and both Paige and Toby stepped between them.

"I think you need to leave, Andrew," Toby said his tone broaching no room for argument as Paige squeezed Walter's hand.

"Walter, ignore him. He's just being a jerk." Paige soothed as she tugged her husband toward the stairs. Walter held his ground for a few seconds before he let her lead him away. "Toby, please escort Drew out," Paige asked as she and Walter ascended the stairs.

"Gladly," Toby said, smirking now as he stepped up to Drew and pointed to the door. "You heard Mrs. O'Brien."

"I'll call you later, Paige," Drew said as he turned and walked out but Paige ignored him as she led her husband to their apartment upstairs.

To be continued...

* * *

Thanks again for reading and reviewing.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Scorpion. Just still borrowing and playing with the characters for a while.

Okay…. so I lied again… this is going to be 3 chapters. But only because this is all I had time to get edited today. I won't have time to edit the last chapter for a couple of days but I'll hopefully have it up mid-week.

Hehehehe... all of you are so suspicious of Drew.

Thanks, as always, to everyone who are reading and reviewing this and all my stories. It makes my heart happy.

Enjoy!

* * *

 ** _Salty Sweet_**

Paige led Walter into their apartment and over to the couch silently, giving her husband a little more time before she made him talk. She pushed him down onto the sofa and the fact that he sat without any resistance told her he was even more out of sorts than he seemed.

She walked over to the kitchen and poured him a glass of water, taking a sip of it herself, before she walked back over to the couch and handed it to him.

"Drink, Walter," she said but he just leaned forward and placed the glass on the coffee table.

Paige sat down beside him and brushed her fingers through her hair as she sighed. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn't look at him as she spoke.

"How do you feel about this?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," he admitted honestly.

She'd known him long enough to know he needed time to process so she wasn't offended by his response. She turned her head to look at him. He was looking at her and his eyes were full of questions. She could see his internal struggle and knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation at all.

"We never talked about children," she said softly.

"I didn't know you wanted more." Walter's fingers flexed, still wanting to touch her, but he just dug them into his thighs instead. His desire to touch her was overwhelming sometimes and he hadn't consciously realized it until recently. He knew he wasn't reacting the way a normal man would to the news that he was going to be a father and he wanted to give her reassurance but he didn't know how.

"I didn't," she answered honestly as she held his gaze. "I was happy with just you, me and Ralph." She placed her hand on her stomach, a motion that Walter didn't fail to notice, and he looked down. "But now I do," she said her voice full of conviction, never taking her eyes off him. "I've only known for barely a half hour and I want this baby more than I can say, Walter."

"Why?" he asked and lifted his eyes back to her face.

"Because it's our child," she replied as she reached her other hand for his and she turned her body slightly to face him. She entwined their fingers together and brought their hands to her lap. Walter gently squeezed her fingers and felt a small measure of his anxiety ease.

"I know you believe that conception is merely a biological result of a sperm fertilizing an egg, but it's more to me. Yes, it's biology and we could have created this child even if we didn't love each other, but we do. And this child was created out of love. And there is no scientific explanation you can give me that will make me feel differently."

He nodded his head because he knew it was futile to argue with her. And in all honesty he didn't want to argue. They differed in their opinion but, regardless, his sperm likely fertilized her egg and created a child that was now growing inside her body.

"Are you certain you're pregnant?" he asked quietly and she nodded.

"Pretty certain. I can't believe I didn't see all the signs," she replied softly. "But I guess I should take a test."

"Do you want me to take you to the store?" he asked trying to be helpful, not knowing what else to do or say.

She shook her head. "I have one here."

"Why?" Walter's brow furrowed in confusion as his thumb brushed against the back of her hand gently.

She bit her bottom lip before she answered. "I, uh, thought I was pregnant last summer." Walter's brows arched in response to her words. "I wasn't, obviously, but I bought a couple of tests so in case it was positive I'd have backups to take."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked as he pursed his lips.

"Because I wasn't pregnant." She shrugged. "What would have been the point?"

He nodded his head thoughtfully filing that information away to ponder at another time. "That's almost a year ago. Are you sure the test will still be viable?"

"Probably," Paige replied as she released his hand, stood up and walked into the bathroom. She crouched down in front of the vanity as Walter followed her in with his hands in his pockets. "Even if it's expired, most expiration dates are just required by law. They don't really expire."

"How did I not know that was there?" Walter asked as she rooted around in the back of the cabinet under the sink.

"Because I put it in this." She held up a box of tampons. "I figured it would be the last place you would look for anything."

He shook his head in agreement. That was definitely the last box he would ever go into.

She pulled the pregnancy test out and read the back of the box. "It expired last month so it should be fine. If it's positive I'll have to make an appointment with the doctor anyway to confirm it. But I really don't need confirmation. All the signs and symptoms are obvious now that I'm paying attention."

"Are you going to take it now?" he asked as he eyed the box warily. That small little package had the ability to completely change their entire lives and Walter didn't like how much power it had.

"Once you leave me alone to pee, sure," she said as stood and tilted her head, smiling softly at him. He was so out of sorts, it was adorable, and she wanted to hurl herself at him and kiss him senseless but she suspected that would freak him out right now. Especially after the topic of her increased sex drive downstairs.

"Oh, right, okay," he said as he turned and walked out of the bathroom pulling the door closed behind him. Paige shook her head and bit her lip as she looked down at the box in her hand. Her eyes began to water and she blinked them rapidly as she tore open the plastic on the box.

She took the test and washed her hands before opening the bathroom door. Walter was sitting on the sofa staring out the wall of windows that lined the back of the living room. She leaned against the doorjamb and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched him silently. She could tell he was lost inside his head so she decided to give him a few minutes to himself while she waited for the results of the test.

Everything was going to change for them. This wasn't something she thought they would go through together. She honestly thought she'd had her only child. Of course the thought of having Walter's child had crossed her mind, particularly last summer, for those several hours she thought she might be pregnant.

And part of her had longed to have his child, to give him a legacy and the ability to pass down the O'Brien genes because, with Megan gone, he was the only chance. He viewed Ralph as his legacy even though her son wasn't biologically his. And although she'd always known it, at their wedding, both of her geniuses were very clear how they viewed each other. They were father and son, blood or not.

But this was a chance for Walter to have his own biological child. She wanted that for him so much even though she doubted he did and she wasn't sure if he ever would despite the outcome of the test. Walter lifted his hand and scratched the spot just over his ear, which was something he did when he was deep in thought. She wanted to go to him and let her fingers take over, knowing how much her touch soothed him, but something kept her rooted in her spot.

When she learned she was pregnant with Ralph, she hadn't wanted to be pregnant. She was nineteen and just starting her sophomore year of college. Drew had just landed his first baseball contract and was on the road all the time and she was unable to follow him because of her schooling. Having a child was the last possible thing she wanted and Paige still carried some guilt in her heart for not wanting the boy who had become the love of her life the second he was put in her arms.

But _this child_ , the one she knew was growing inside her even without seeing the results of the test; she wanted this child with every fiber of her being.

After another minute, Paige stepped back into the bathroom and checked the test. A sob crawled up her throat and she bit her lip to hold the sound back. She wrapped the test in toilet paper and put it in the drawer before she walked out of the bathroom. She sat down beside Walter, again, and he sat forward, looking over at her, his eyes asking the question his lips couldn't form.

She nodded her head and he reached for her hand, this time, as he released a deep shuddering breath and sat back against the cushion.

"You need to see a doctor to make sure everything is okay. We need to know how far along you are. You shouldn't have been near that aqua regia today," he started rambling and Paige pressed her lips against his because it was one of those times that it was the only thing that would work to snap him out of it.

"Walter," she said softly as she pulled back and reached up and caressed his cheek. "I'm fine and the baby is fine. But I'll call and see if I can get into my doctor today."

"Paige," he looked at her helplessly, his eyes full of uncertainty. "I don't know what to do or say here. I don't know what to even feel and I know that probably disappoints you and I hate disappointing you…" he paused and exhaled a deep breath before continuing. "But having a child was not something I planned."

"I know, Walter," she soothed as she turned sideways to face him and then settled back against the arm of the sofa. She reached for him and pulled his head down to her breasts as she leaned them both back. He clutched her to him and she could feel the desperation in his grasp.

"I'm not disappointed in you," she murmured softly against the top of his head before pressing a kiss against his hair. "I know you need time to process. It's a lot for me to process too. And this isn't something _either_ of us planned. But our child _is_ growing inside me and we'll figure this out, okay?"

Walter nodded his head against her breasts as Paige combed her fingers through his hair, gently scratching his scalp the way he liked. Silence filled the apartment and Paige felt his body slowly relax as some of the tension left him. Paige didn't know how much time had passed before Walter finally spoke again.

"I thought your breasts were getting bigger," he said quietly as he brushed his nose against the soft swell of the top of her breast above the top button of her shirt.

Paige laughed as she tilted his face up and kissed him. "Of course you did," she murmured against his lips.

He grinned unrepentantly because his obsession with her breasts was no secret and if either of them would notice her breasts were swelling, it was him. Paige sighed softly as she caressed his cheek. Walter closed his eyes and brought her palm to his lips.

"My bras have been getting a little tight but I thought maybe you had put them in the dryer the last time you did laundry and just didn't tell me."

"Oh I learned my lesson on that long ago," Walter snorted as he brought her hand back to the spot just above his right ear and she gently scratched instinctively as he closed his eyes again.

Once, several years earlier, he had tried to be helpful after they had been on a series of back to back cases. Everything in their personal lives had built up, particularly the laundry. So Walter did a couple of loads in an attempt to take some of the burden off Paige but, not knowing that women's lingerie was supposed to be hung up to dry, he threw everything in the dryer, on the cotton setting. And several of Paige's B cup bras shrunk down to, practically, training bra size. Needless to say Walter was banned from ever doing her laundry again, although she loosened the reigns slightly when things got very busy for them, which it had been recently.

"I can't believe how oblivious I've been," Paige sighed softly. "There are so many signs that I just completely missed."

"Your cycle is typically normal. Didn't that tip you off?" he asked as he buried his face against her breasts again. "You should have gotten it just after we returned from our honeymoon and I thought you did but now that I think about it I wasn't much paying attention at the time."

"Well we did get thrown into that Bolivian drug cartel case and we were in South America for over a week on that one." she said before she arched her brow. "And since when you do keep track of my cycle?"

He shrugged and his nose brushed against her nipple causing her to gasp softly. Her breasts were incredibly sensitive lately and that was yet another thing that should have tipped her off.

"I've known your cycle for years. Your birth control pill keeps it on schedule and knowing it and when your hormones might be heightened has helped me to keep out of the line of fire a few times," he said sheepishly.

Paige just laughed again as her fingers continued to massage his scalp softly.

"Well if you'd been paying attention then you would have known I did bleed while we were there. I only spotted, though, and I just thought it was because of all the stress we were under on top of all the excitement of the previous weeks. I didn't think much of it because I'll do that from time to time."

Walter didn't flinch when she spoke about her bleeding because he knew the biology and science behind a woman's menstrual cycle but he did scrunch his nose a bit, causing Paige to laugh, for a third time, and both their bodies to shake from it. She was just so happy at that moment she couldn't help herself.

"God, I love you, Walter O'Brien," she murmured against his temple before tilting his face up and kissing him again. Walter turned in her arms as he responded, deepening the kiss as he pressed one hand on the arm of the sofa as he rose to his knees between her thighs.

Paige moaned into his mouth as her fingernails dug deeper into his scalp and then slid down over his neck as she wrapped her arms around him. Walter's hand slid up beneath her shirt skimming over her stomach and stopping just beneath her breast. Paige arched her back as desire shot through her body.

Walter brushed his thumb over her nipple as it pressed against the satin of her bra and he deepened the kiss as he pressed his thigh between hers, pressing against the seam of her pants and making her writhe. Paige felt a rush of arousal soak her panties and she whimpered into this mouth as she began tugging the back of his shirt up.

Then the sound of Toby's voice came through the intercom that was sitting on the bookshelf beside the sofa and they both groaned as their lips parted.

"I hate to break up whatever it is you two are doing up there but Cabe just arrived, and we have a case, so you might want to get down here. And if you were playing slappy tickly please make sure you dress properly because he brought two FBI agents with him."

The sound of a slap came through the intercom followed by Toby's voice once again.

"Ow, woman, will you please stop hitting me?"

"Then stop being dickhead," Happy's voice floated through the speaker and Walter sighed heavily as he buried his face in Paige's neck.

"He is such an ass sometimes," Walter muttered against her skin as he removed his hand from beneath Paige's shirt. He pressed a soft kiss against her throat before pushing himself off her and standing. He held his hand out and helped her up. Paige sighed as she adjusted her shirt, her body now buzzing with desire that would go unfulfilled until tonight.

"I think maybe you should sit this one out," Walter suggested and Paige narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's not how this is going to go down, Walter," she said as she folded her arms beneath her breasts.

"Paige-," he started but she shook her head.

"No. I'm not going to be sidelined from cases just because I'm pregnant." When he started to open his mouth again she held her hand up to stop him. "Yes, things are going to have to change and some cases I will have to sit out but most of our cases these days are not as dangerous as they used to be."

"We don't know if this one is or not," Walter argued but Paige stood her ground.

"Well let's go down and find out and if it sounds dicey I'll stay here. But if it's not, Walter, _I am going_ ," Paige put her hands on her hips as she made her position on the matter very clear.

"I thought you were going to try to see your doctor today."

"One more day won't make a difference."

Walter knew she was right and he realized it was going to be a mine field navigating this new development in their lives. He trusted Paige to hold her own when it came to their cases. She was smart and resourceful and more cautious than any of them. And he knew not to smother her or try to hold her back from participating, but they were going to have talk through what will be safe and what won't while she's pregnant. He had no idea how to deal with any of this. And the look on her face made him realize, once again, just how truly out of his depth he was. And one thing Walter did not like was being out of his depth.

He expelled a harsh breath. "I'm not going to win this am I?"

"Nope," Paige said and he nodded reluctantly before he turned to walk downstairs.

Paige grabbed his hand and he stopped and looked back at her. She stepped closer and reached up to cup his face in her palms.

"We'll figure this out, Walter. I promise," she whispered and kissed him softly.

He, again, nodded his head, but he wasn't so sure.

##############

As it turned out, the case was a simple government database hacking job and wouldn't require Scorpion to do anything other than track the hacker down through his or her IP address. But it wasn't something the FBI wanted done remotely so Walter, Sylvester and Toby accompanied Cabe and the two FBI agents to their headquarters downtown.

Paige agreed she probably wouldn't be needed so she remained at the garage to catch up on some paperwork that had been piling up on her desk, while Happy, who it also appeared wouldn't be needed, took off to have lunch with her father. Paige had been able to slip into a cancellation appointment with her doctor, for that afternoon, and she decided to take it even though Walter wouldn't be able to accompany her. She doubted he would have wanted to, anyway, even though he, halfheartedly, offered.

So an hour later Paige lifted Ferret Bueller off her keyboard for the third time in ten minutes, setting him down in the small bed she now kept for him on the corner of her desk.

"I'm going to put you in your cage if you don't knock it off," she scolded the small animal but he just chattered defiantly at her before he scurried back over, only this time climbing onto her lap and burrowing into her.

The door to the garage opened and she looked over, surprised the team was returning so quickly, but was more surprised to see Drew again.

"Drew, what are you doing back here?" she asked as she pushed her chair back and stood up. She tossed Ferret Bueller over her shoulder and he burrowed his head under her long hair chattering excitedly.

"I came back because I was hoping you might have time, now, to talk."

"You've got nerve coming back after your little comment before you left." Paige rubbed her fingers down Ferret Bueller's back as he snuggled against her neck.

"Yeah, that kind of just slipped out," he said as he actually looked contrite. "I didn't really mean it."

"Yes you did," she smirked because Paige remembered her volatile personality when she was pregnant with Ralph.

Much of it had to do with the fact that she'd felt alone and abandoned a lot of the time because Drew was always traveling for the team. She was lucky he was home two or three nights a week during the season which encompassed the last few months of her pregnancy and the first few months after Ralph was born.

"I still shouldn't have said it. Sorry about that."

Paige glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to leave for an appointment in twenty minutes, Drew. What is so important that it can't wait until another day that's less chaotic?"

"It's always chaotic around here, isn't it?"

Paige sighed. "Some days more than others.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "This is my only morning off; I'll be supervising training for the rest of the week."

When Ferret Bueller started trying to gnaw on her hair, Paige pulled him away and put him back in his bed on her desk. "And is there a reason we can't talk about this over the phone?"

"If you answered my calls or read my emails maybe we could but obviously they aren't a priority," he said peevishly. "This won't take long."

Paige sighed again, not in the mood to argue with him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I'd like Ralph to come to Portland this summer."

Paige looked at him confused. "He's visiting you for a couple of weeks in June."

Drew nodded as he dropped his arms to his sides. "I know but I'd like him to stay longer than a couple of weeks."

"Have you spoken to him about this?"

Drew shook his head. "No. I wanted to speak to you first because I think we should be on the same page about it."

Paige eyed Drew suspiciously. Something wasn't feeling quite right about this conversation. "If Ralph wants to stay longer with you I won't stop him, Drew."

"That's the thing," Drew said cautiously. "I don't know if he's going want to. I was hoping you might encourage him."

"Why?" Paige frowned. "Did something happen when he was visiting you last month?"

"Not really," Drew shoved his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean, not really?" Paige stepped closer to him as she pinned him with what Walter and Ralph had once dubbed her "mom stare." You never wanted to get the "mom stare."

"He was barely there for four days before he had to turn around and come back for classes because he had to attend your secret wedding beforehand?" Drew said defensively.

Paige chose to ignore his passive aggressive comment because she was more concerned with Ralph at that moment.

"So what happened when Ralph was there?" She asked. "He didn't say anything when he came home."

"It wasn't anything specific," Drew replied as he scratched the back of his head. "He just kept to himself, for the most part, and didn't want to do much." Drew shook his head and Paige could see the frustration on his face. "I don't know it just seems like he's pulling away or something. I don't feel like we're connecting anymore."

"So nothing specific happened?" Paige asked worriedly.

"No. It was just easier when he was younger, you know." Drew leaned against the work table and crossed his legs. "Well, I know he and I had a bit of a rocky start, after I came back, but then we were good. Things have been good for years."

"He's a teenager now, Drew." Paige leaned against the edge of her desk and mimicked his posture. "Teenagers are tricky and Ralph is starting to assert his independence lately."

"Is he getting mouthy with you too?" Drew asked and Paige's lips curved into a wry smirk.

"His verbal filter goes out the window when he's moody. He's just like Walter that way."

"Walter isn't his father, Paige. I am." Drew snapped.

"I'm not talking about genetics, Drew," she snapped back, tired of his occasionally aggressive reaction to Walter's place in Ralph's life. Most of the time he was fine but, every once in a while, his jealousy came out. "I'm talking about the genius brain and how it processes emotions." Ferret Bueller pawed at Paige's butt and she reached behind her and swatted him away. "Sometimes, especially when he's upset or just not thinking he says things without thinking them through."

"Fine," Drew sighed as he held up his hands in acquiescence. "But I'd just like to spend a little more time with him this summer. I want him to get to know Anna better. She's important to me."

Paige tilted her head as Drew mentioned his girlfriend. "He told me she was nice."

"He barely said ten words to her the entire time he was there."

Paige sighed internally. Drew still didn't understand their son even after all this time. "He's only met her a couple of times. You know how he is with people he doesn't know well."

"I've been with her for over a year. And that's exactly my point. I've only seen him twice since last summer and he only spent two weeks with me. I want to see more of my son, Paige."

Ferret Bueller continued to paw at Paige so she picked him up again. He snuggled right up against her chest and chattered happily but she was at her last straw with him today and was determined he was going to go back in his cage as soon as Drew left.

"I already said I won't try to discourage him if he wants to spend more time in Portland this summer, Drew, but he does have to be back by mid July. He and Walter are attending a tech conference in Berlin. They'll be gone for 3 weeks just before Ralph's classes start up."

"Walter's going to leave you alone for that long while you're pregnant?" Drew looked skeptical.

Ferret Bueller started licking his belly rather than trying to climb into Paige's shirt and she stroked his ears gently as she replied. "I won't be that pregnant by then. I'll barely be six months. And if I recall you left me for the last three and half months I was pregnant with Ralph."

Paige wasn't going to bring it up but he opened the door so she stepped right on through.

"And if I recall you got pretty pissed at me for it."

"Drew, I'm not interested in going down memory lane with you about this." Paige glanced at the clock again and pushed off the edge of her desk. "I have to go or I'm going to be late. You need to talk to Ralph about this summer. I'll encourage him to go if he wants to but I'm not going to force him."

"Fine." Drew stood up and then motioned to her stomach. "So, was this baby planned?"

Paige shook her head as her lips curved up on the right. "Not even remotely."

"Are you happy about it?" Drew asked curiously. "Walter looked pretty shocked earlier and Ralph told me he was the only who noticed you were acting off."

"Is that what he called it?" Paige's half smile curved into an amused smirk.

"I think he actually said a little bit crazy." Drew smirked in return.

"Hmmm," Paige muttered. She was going to have a conversation with her son when he got home later. "He was also nice enough to tell me I was starting to get fat, yet another example of his, sometimes, lack of verbal filter."

Drew laughed and when Paige narrowed her eyes, he coughed into his hand to cover it.

He let his eyes travel over her casually. "You can hardly tell, yet, but if I look close enough I can see your face is a little puffy."

"Gee, thanks." Paige lifted Ferret Bueller higher when he started wiggling in her hands

"You didn't put on a lot of weight when you were pregnant with Ralph. Obviously your stomach got huge and your hips a little, but that was it. Oh, your boobs too." He motioned to her chest where Ferret Bueller was once again trying to dive inside her shirt. "But you were incredibly beautiful when you were pregnant, Paige. Then again you always are."

Drew shrugged and grinned and she shook her head. "Thanks, I think."

"I meant it as a compliment. And not a creepy one. How far along are you anyway?"

"I don't know. Hence my doctor's appointment I'm going to be late for if I don't leave right now."

Drew stepped closer to her. "Okay. I'll talk to Ralph but please help me out with this. I feel like he's slipping away and living three thousand miles away from him doesn't help."

Paige could see the sincerity in Drew's eyes and she knew he was being honest in his desire to remain close with their son. "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," Drew said and he stepped even closer, pulling Paige into an unexpected hug, trapping a very unhappy Ferret Bueller between them. "Congratulations, Paige. I'm happy for you and Walter."

Paige stood still for a second before she hesitantly reached one arm around and hugged him back.

"Uh, thanks."

Paige stepped back and Ferret Bueller chattered angrily at Drew and Paige chuckled softly as she stroked his fur to calm him.

"Is he always that aggressive?" Drew asked.

"No, but I really have to go, Drew," Paige said as she turned toward her desk.

"Okay. See you around," Drew replied as he turned and walked out of the garage.

Paige walked to Ferret Bueller's cage on the other side of the kitchen.

"Why are you such a little perv," she asked the small animal as she stroked him gently. He continued to tug at the buttons on her shirt and attempted to shove his head inside. "I can only imagine what you're going to be like once they start getting bigger," she mused before placing him in his cage and heading out of the garage to her appointment.

##################

"Uh, Walter," Sylvester said from beside the genius at the bank of monitors in the FBI computer lab.

"What, Sly, I'm trying to focus here," Walter replied as he continued to type on his laptop.

"I just accidentally opened the wrong file on my tablet and it brought up the cameras in the garage."

"And you're telling me this why?" Walter asked but he looked over at the mathematician because of the anxiety in his tone. "Is Paige okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

"What do you mean you guess so?" Walter asked as he grabbed the tablet out of Sylvester's hand.

"Drew is there," Sly said as Toby rolled his chair over from his computer and poked his head over Sly's shoulder.

"What's Drew doing back?" he asked as Sylvester shook his head slowly as he continued to look at the screen.

"Well, as of four minutes ago he was hugging Paige," Sly replied as Walter clenched both his teeth and his fist as he watched his wife hugging her ex.

To be continued…

* * *

Thanks again for reading and to all those that take the time to leave a review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Scorpion.**

I know…. I know…. It's been _forever_. This chapter has been written for a very long time - it just needed some final editing and proof reading but I just couldn't get my head into it with everything else going on. But here it is. Thanks for your patience and for reading and reviewing.

I'll have another short author's note at the end.

More smut ahead so if that's not your thing you may want to stop now.

Otherwise enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Salty Sweet**_

 _ **Chapter 3**_

Walter leaned over the edge of the wall surrounding the roof as he looked out over the city, the lights glistening in the otherwise black night. His mind was on overdrive and he couldn't get his thoughts to slow down. Everyone had left for the day and he'd locked up the garage below before he headed upstairs to their apartment. But he wasn't quite ready to face Paige, until he was sure he knew what he was feeling, so he decided to head to the roof to gather his thoughts.

She understood earlier when he said he didn't know how he felt about her being pregnant. It was confirmed by her doctor that afternoon so there was no more uncertainty. In less than eight months she was going to give birth to their child and, although he hadn't determined exactly how he felt about that quite yet, the one thing Walter _was_ certain of was that he was terrified.

There was very little on the planet that scared Walter O'Brien. Losing his ability to think critically and logically frightened him. Losing Paige or Ralph frightened him. And becoming a father to a child he may not be able to connect with, didn't just frighten him, it _terrified_ him.

He knew what that feeling was like, the not being able to connect with people who love you. Despite his assertion most of his life, Walter had come to accept he was capable of love, even romantic love, something up until just a few years ago he'd believed to be imaginary. He loved Paige. There was nothing more honest in his life than that. He loved Ralph and he could even, begrudgingly, admit he loved his misfit group of friends. He'd loved his sister. In fact, she was the first person he had ever admitted to loving in any way. And he loved his parents, but despite the fact that they loved him too, he was still unable to connect with them.

To this day all their interaction was awkward and uncomfortable. Even when Paige tried to bridge the gap between them by insisting on a trip to Ireland two summers ago, he and his parents still weren't able to find common ground. Having Paige and Ralph there with him had helped but they were just too different and, even though they loved each other, they were never going to understand each other.

Walter had taken to being a father figure to Ralph very easily. But he and Ralph were the same. Their brains were wired the same and they instinctively understood each other. Walter was able to connect with almost anyone of higher intelligence but when it came to normals, Paige and Cabe, and his sister, long ago, were the only three he had ever been able to relate to. There was a very high probability that this child would be normal.

Very exceptional combinations of genes were statistically unlikely to appear twice even within the same family. Of course, there had been families of genius, like the Bernoullis, the Bachs, and the Darwins, who defied those statistical probabilities, but since Ralph was not his biological child, it was uncertain which parent the boy inherited his genius from.

If it was Paige, then there was a higher probability this child could be genius too. If it was Drew, which to Walter seemed highly unlikely, then the child currently growing inside his wife's womb would very likely have average intelligence like its mother.

He would accept any child Paige gave birth to but, even knowing it was selfish of him, Walter couldn't help but hope the child would be more like him, because Paige was able to relate to geniuses much more easily than he was able to relate to normals. Although he was better at it, thanks to Paige and Ralph, Walter still struggled every day with understanding and interacting with those of lesser intelligence. And the thought of failing his child the way his parents failed him left him feeling a bit nauseous.

Walter heard the door open behind him and expected it to be his wife. She always gave him space to gather his thoughts but she let him have only so much time before she made him talk it out with her. At times it frustrated him, to no end, and others he was infinitely grateful to her because, without her pushing him, he had the tendency to retreat back to his old behavior patterns of avoidance.

Because he was expecting her he was surprised when Ralph stepped up beside him.

"You hiding out up here?" the young genius asked as he leaned his elbows on the wall beside Walter.

"I don't hide out," Walter scoffed but Ralph just hummed noncommittally and it reminded Walter of Paige. "Did your mom send you up here?" he asked as he looked over at Ralph to see the young genius smirking.

"Nah," Ralph shrugged. "She's too busy standing in front of her bedroom mirror lifting her shirt so she can look at her stomach."

Now Walter hummed noncommittally. That's what she was doing when he glanced briefly toward their bedroom before he came up to the roof.

"How did you do on your exam today?" Walter asked as he stood up and turned around, leaning his back against the wall.

"I aced it," he replied a little cockily and Walter shook his head because Toby had definitely rubbed off on the young genius.

"Has your professor returned your research paper yet?" Walter asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Ralph shook his head as he turned around and mimicked Walter's stance.

"Not yet. He always takes a while to grade." After a minute of silence Ralph spoke again. "So are we going to keep making useless small talk or are we going to talk about what's got you hiding from mom?" Ralph asked and Walter pursed his lips.

"You are your mother's son, aren't you," Walter muttered and Ralph laughed. "I heard all your reasons earlier but what was it _really_ that made you realize she was pregnant?" Walter asked curiously.

Ralph paused for a moment before he replied. "I found her crying a few days ago."

"Why was she crying?" Walter frowned as his eyes whipped toward Ralph.

"She burned her toast," Ralph said with a straight face and Walter looked at him like he had three heads.

"You're kidding me," Walter choked out in surprise.

"Nope."

"What did she say?" Walter was almost afraid to ask.

"Oh, she didn't know I saw her" Ralph shook his head exaggeratedly. "I hightailed it out of there long before she saw me."

Walter's brow furrowed. "Then how did you know that's why she was crying?"

Ralph sighed. "Because she was complaining to Ferret Bueller about it."

"I'm sorry, what?" Walter arched a brow.

"In between sobs she was telling Ferret Bueller that the toaster clearly had something against her, and liked you better, because it didn't burn your toast."

"Good lord, what are we in for?" Walter sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"A wild ride according to my dad." Ralph pushed on his hands and pulled his body up so he was sitting on the wall. If his mother saw him she'd lose her mind. "Although I don't put much stock in what he says because he wasn't around much of the time my mom was pregnant. At least that's what I heard her say to him one time when they were fighting, just before he left."

Walter's fingers clenched and, for what was probably the third time that day, he wanted to punch Drew. Not because he had treated Paige poorly in the past. Walter knew he had based on what Paige shared with him over the years and, as a result, Walter had a perpetual urge to punch his wife's ex. But his urge to punch Drew, at that moment, was because Ralph was aware of it. Like Walter, Ralph had an eidetic memory and could recollect every memory, good and bad, as clearly as the day it had happened.

Walter bit his tongue having promised Paige to never say anything negative about Drew to Ralph. So instead he asked the boy a question that had been on his mind much of the day.

"How do you feel about your mom being pregnant?"

Ralph shrugged as he bit his bottom lip, a habit he'd picked up from Paige. "It's cool, I guess. I wanted a sibling when I was younger because I wanted someone who might just understand me. But once I met you guys I stopped."

Walter nodded in understanding because he couldn't imagine how even more isolated he might have felt if he hadn't had Megan growing up. "When you and mom got together I thought about it again but when a couple of years went by and she didn't have a baby I just figured you didn't want one."

"It certainly wasn't in the plans," Walter murmured as he pursed his lips.

"So how do you feel about it?" Ralph asked as he looked at Walter out of the corner of his eye.

Walter silently debated how to answer Ralph's question. He didn't want to lie to him but he wasn't sure he should tell him the truth either. Finally he opted for the truth because that was what they told each other.

"I don't know quite yet," Walter admitted quietly. "Obviously I'm surprised. A little hesitant. A lot anxious."

"That actually makes sense." Ralph didn't look surprised by his stepfather's answer at all. "Mom is really happy," he added as Walter looked over at him.

"I know she is," Walter replied and Walter was once again grateful for how much Ralph was like his mother. He understood, almost instinctively, that Walter's apprehension with something he had difficulty processing didn't mean he was displeased about it.

"That's why I came up here." Ralph jumped off the wall and moved to sit on one of the chairs at the table in the center of the roof. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," Walter dragged the word out as he followed Ralph and sat down.

"I've been thinking about it all day and I think we should wait to bring anything up to mom about changing my name."

"Why?" Walter asked as he leaned back in the chair.

"Because I know my dad won't want me to do it," he admitted and Walter could see the boy was torn. "And I don't want her to fight with him over it. Stress isn't good for pregnant women and if my dad tries to protest and drags it through the courts, that's just going to cause her stress."

Walter was thoughtful for a moment before he nodded his head. "All of this is your call, buddy. We've already discussed how your dad might react but, if your mom agrees to this, I will make sure you both will have the best lawyer Scorpion can afford, who will eviscerate any objections he has."

"I know," Ralph said with a brief smile before he frowned thoughtfully. "I don't want to hurt him by doing this."

"No one will think you do, especially your mom," Walter replied as he straightened his legs and crossed his ankles.

"I'm glad he came back in to my life, you know. I'm glad I got to know him but he's not the man who helped raise me. You are." Walter nodded his head but remained silent sensing Ralph had more to say. "And now that mom's having a baby, it's logical for all of us to have the same surname. Otherwise if will be confusing for him or her."

Walter's lips curved up on the right. "That is a logical assumption. Children are likely to be confused by those differences. Especially if they're normal."

"Do you think the baby will be like us or mom?" Ralph asked and Walter released a long breath.

"I don't know, bud."

"I bet Sly could run some probabilities for us," Ralph said as his lips curved up into a smirk.

"I bet Sly already has," Walter joined him with a smirk of his own. He needed to ask Sly about it tomorrow.

The smile slipped from Ralph's lips and he said more seriously. "Well, mom is pretty special so the baby is bound to be too."

Walter wondered if Ralph truly understood how exceptionally special his mother was. "That she is," Walter agreed as he stood. "I guess it's time I stopped hiding, huh?"

"Good luck," Ralph snickered as he took his phone out of his pocket when it beeped.

"You'll probably want to wear those earplugs tonight," Walter warned and then smirked when he saw Ralph shudder and cringe.

"Ewwww," the young genius replied as he looked down to see who had texted him.

Walter chuckled to himself as he walked across the roof toward the door. Maybe Toby was right. Sometimes it was fun to try to scar a young mind.

"You didn't think I heard you earlier, did you? At least I was nice enough to warn you," Walter called blithely as he stepped through the door and down the stairs to his wife.

############

Walter entered their bedroom after setting the alarm on the garage perimeter, leaving the door to the roof off, knowing Ralph would set it when he finally came down. Walter had the alarm installed when he and Paige started dating and she and Ralph started spending the nights at the garage. The garage was not in the best neighborhood and when it was just him, he didn't worry. But when they started staying over he took more precautions. Now he wondered if he should think about upgrading the system.

Paige was leaning against the headboard of their bed with her knees bent, her tablet resting against them, as she read something on the screen. She was wearing her favorite pajamas, a silk shorts and tank top set and she was so incredibly beautiful that he was once again awed that she was his. Ferret Bueller was tucked against her right hip licking his belly as she absently scratched around his ears. The small animal was chattering contentedly and Walter chuckled as he shook his head.

Paige looked up at the sound of Walter's laugh.

"Hey," she smiled as Walter closed the bedroom door and walked toward the bed while unbuttoning his shirt. "I was wondering when you were going to come down."

She looked at him knowingly as she lifted the tablet off her thighs and set it on the nightstand. Ferret Bueller chattered loudly protesting the loss of her fingers against his head before grabbing onto her fingers.

Walter shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it on the chair in the corner before sitting on the bed and reaching down to remove his shoes and socks.

"I just needed some air and to quiet my mind," Walter admitted and Paige straightened one of her legs so she could nudge his back with her toes.

"I know _why_ you were up there. I was just beginning to think I was going to have to come up after you."

Walter reached out and grabbed her foot and turned around to look at her over his shoulder as a silent understanding passed between them. Walter stood up and removed his pants, also tossing them over the chair, leaving him just in his boxers and t-shirt. He crawled up the bed beside Paige and plopped face down with his face in the pillow.

Paige rolled to her side and reached over, sliding her fingers into his hair and massaging his scalp gently the way that he liked.

Walter turned his face and looked up at her as Ferret Bueller scurried over her hip and tucked himself down between them before head butting Walter in the shoulder, chattering loudly and demanding attention.

"His obsession with you is bordering on disturbing," Walter said as he reached over and scratched the small ferret. Ferret Bueller continued to chatter as he grabbed onto Walter's hand and nudged his palm with his head.

"It will probably get worse as my boobs get bigger," Paige chuckled as she removed her fingers from Walter's hair and slid them over his cheek before pulling her hand back and resting it over her stomach.

"It's likely because he can detect the change in your scent." Walter noticed his wife's action and wondered if she realized she'd done it.

"What about my scent?" Paige asked as Ferret Bueller released Walter's hand and tucked his body against her stomach before nudging her breast with his head.

"A woman's body chemistry changes when she's pregnant," Walter replied as he nudged the ferret's head away. The small animal chattered at him defiantly but Walter ignored him as he moved his hand to rest on Paige's hip.

"Do I smell differently to you?" Paige asked with a small frown as she reached down and lifted Ferret Bueller away from where he was now trying to shove his head down the front of her top. She twisted backwards and let the ferret drop gently to the floor.

When she twisted back around Walter leaned forward and sniffed her shoulder exaggeratedly. He smirked when she smacked his arm. "A little bit," he said as he inhaled again, more deeply, this time burying his face in her neck as he let the scent of her fill his nostrils. There was a very subtle difference.

"Lovely," she replied sarcastically as she tried to pull back but he slipped his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"It's not bad," he brushed his nose against her growling softly against her skin. "It's just a slightly deeper, muskier scent," he murmured as Paige moaned softly while sliding both hands into his short hair, tugging gently as she felt Walter's lips brush against her skin. "But it's so subtle I hardly noticed it until you just asked me," Walter continued speaking as he exhaled his warm breath against her throat, making Paige shiver. "But the ferret's olfactory senses are more acute than mine."

Paige rolled onto her back and Ferret Bueller screeched as he scampered off the bed. Paige had been so distracted by Walter's ministrations that she hadn't noticed the ferret had jumped back onto the bed and snuggled up against her ass.

"Oh, god," Paige gasped, startled and Walter chuckled against her neck as he moved over her, his hips settling in the cradle of her thighs.

"I told you his obsession with you is disturbing." Walter sucked gently on the hollow of Paige's throat and her heart started to pound. "Most animals are repelled by pregnant women but since he's always had this thing about sniffing you it makes sense that he'd like your muskier scent."

"Kind of like how you've always had a thing about sniffing me?" she teased breathlessly because like his obsession with her breasts, he _also_ had a habit of sniffing her.

"Mmhmm," he murmured his agreement because it was no secret that he loved to surround himself with her. The scent of her calmed him and aroused him simultaneously as illogical as that seemed.

"Walter," Paige moaned and turned her face to press her lips to his ear. Her body was already ripe and ready for him just from the feeling of his lips on her throat. "God, I need you."

The growl in the back of Walter's throat increased in volume as he slid his hand up the outside of Paige's thigh and his fingers dipped beneath her sleep shorts. He lifted his head and captured her lips, swallowing her low moan, as his fingers slipped beneath the edge of her panties to find her warm and wet. He brushed his fingertips against her swollen flesh and her entire body trembled beneath him.

Paige tore her lips away from his and arched her back, pushing against his hand, as his name slipped between her lips again.

Walter pulled his hand out and pushed up on his knees, leaning over her. He pushed her tank top up and lowered his mouth to her breast, taking her nipple between his lips as Paige's fingers gripped his shoulders. She wriggled and pulled her top over her head tossing it away.

Ferret Bueller's small yelp came from the floor beside the bed but Paige couldn't be bothered to look although she suspected her top landed on top of him. She heard scurrying and then a thud and she knew he'd scampered out the cat door she'd convinced Walter to install a few years earlier. The ferret liked napping on their bed, rather than in his cage, and even though Walter was against it he put the hole in the door to allow the small animal to come and go as he pleased.

Walter wrapped his wet fingers around the soft flesh of Paige's other breast and squeezed gently and Page threaded her fingers through his hair. She arched her back deeper and pressed his face against her breast, urging him to suckle her.

Walter's tongue swirled around her nipple as his lips gently applied just enough suction to make her squirm and moan. He released her nipple and wrapped his lips around the other one, repeating the action as his fingers once again found their way down her stomach and beneath her short. His hand slipped over her mound and his fingers began teasing her again, flicking against the throbbing bud.

Paige's chest rose and fell rapidly as she panted and her fingers gently massaged his scalp, her short fingernails scraping just enough to make Walter shudder.

Paige's body was pulsing from the top of her head all the way down between her thighs where his fingers were performing what she could only describe a magic. She whimpered Walter's name and he released her nipple.

"Hmm," he hummed, as his shifted down the mattress, his lips slowly traveling down her body. Paige squirmed as his lips brushed softly over her still flat abdomen, his tongue swirling as he moved lower and the scent of her arousal slowly permeated the air around him. She reached down to the waistband of her shorts but Walter's hands beat her to it, as he removed his lips from her.

He slipped off the end of the bed and settled on his knees, tugging her shorts and panties down her long smooth legs. Paige lifted her hips to assist and once he'd divested her of the fabric her thighs fell open and she leaned back on her elbows and looked down the length of her body, watching his eyes darken. Whenever he gave her that look Paige felt her lower abdomen clench with need.

Walter, once again, growled in the back of his throat as he grasped her ankle and tugged her down the mattress, bringing her ass all the way to the edge.

"God, yesss," Paige moaned long and low and she fell back onto the mattress as Walter settled more comfortably on his knees, grateful for the carpet Paige insisted he install a couple of years earlier. He hiked her thighs up over his shoulders and turned his head, pressing his lips to the inside of her thigh.

Paige arched her back, eagerly anticipating his mouth on the place she wanted him most.

But it was clear by the way his tongue was slowly swirling in circles on the flesh just above her knee that he was in no rush. Walter liked taking his time when he used his mouth on her and Paige, sometimes, wondered if he enjoyed it more than she did because she found his head buried between her thighs quite a bit. He had a habit of waking her that way in the mornings and all she could do is lay back and try not to melt into the mattress from the pleasure.

It had initially taken them some time to find their rhythm with oral sex. He had refused to let her perform it on him at first and instead, as a means to distract her, he would maneuver his way down her body and make her forget her own name.

For a man who had never performed _cunnilingus_ on a woman before her, he was a fast learner; she had to give him that. The first time he stumbled, initially, although he made up for the lack of technique with enthusiasm. But no matter how hard she tried to gently guide him by wriggling and writhing and arching her hips he just kept missing the spot.

Finally she just grabbed him by the ears and moved his mouth exactly where she wanted him. He grunted in surprise but caught on to her intent instantly, diving in with the intensity and focus with which he did almost everything in his life. And from that moment on, every time he put his tongue on her, Paige wondered how she'd ever lived her life without it.

"Walter," she moaned louder as his lips and tongue slowly swirled in circles up her thigh but stopped just short of his ultimate destination. He turned his head and performed the same ministrations on her other thigh, smiling and murmuring softly against her soft skin.

She reached down and slipped her fingers into his hair again, tugging on the strands. Her body was wound too tonight for his teasing.

She tried to guide him toward her aching flesh but he just reached up and pulled her hands from his hair and held them down at her sides. She started to close her thighs and he tucked her hands beneath her ass.

"No," he growled and pushed her thighs wider, nipping her with his teeth before starting to suck the skin of her inner thigh.

"Walter, don't tease me," she whined and reached down to tap him on the head. He released her flesh, admiring the mark he left on her and gripped her hand again, entwining their fingers. She gripped his fingers tight and bucked her hips.

"I'm getting there," he mumbled against her skin as his lips moved higher and he pushed his tongue between his lips, licking the spot where her leg met her pelvis. "Patience is a virtue, you know."

"Fuck patience," Paige growled and Walter grinned against her as the rare expletive escaped her lips. He quite enjoyed making her curse because he knew she _only_ did it when she was sexually frustrated and her body was on overload.

But it also meant she'd reached her limit with his teasing and, because he was dying for a taste of her, he gently blew over her wet flesh before lowering his mouth to her. When his tongue finale swiped over her swollen, throbbing clit, Paige thought her head was going to pop off.

"Oh god," she cried out, not at all softly, and reached down to grip his hair in her fingers again. Walter slipped his hands beneath her ass and tilted her up toward his mouth. He closed his lips around her clit and flicked the tip with his tongue before swiping it along the underside. The slightly tangy, salty, taste of her hit his taste buds and he slipped his tongue lower, groaning into her wet flesh.

Paige's thighs trembled around his head and she thrashed her own as her heels pressed into the center of his back. Walter shook his head to let her know to let go of his hair and she did before she brought her hands to her breasts and her fingers grasped her nipples. She tugged the hard nubs before flicking the pad of her middle fingers over the very tips. She always came harder with the double stimulation and she started panting faster, her breaths coming in short hard gasps, as her hips rocked rhythmically against his face.

Walter thrust his tongue into her and she tightened her thighs around his head as she arched her back deeper. Her repeated the action repeatedly and then wiggled his tongue before sweeping it up one side, over and around her clit and back down the other side before thrusting it back inside her.

She started chanting his name lowly, then more loudly, as his tongue swirled over her, teasing her and tasting her as her body responded and more of her arousal coated his tongue each time he swept it over her opening. The scent of her surrounded Walter and the taste of her seeped into him and he felt his body throbbing in anticipation. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh of her ass and held her steady as his tongue started lashing and lapping at her harder and faster.

Paige reached down and slipped her fingers into his short hair, again, and she tugged as her hips started bucking and rocking faster. Walter moved his head along with her hips, not taking his mouth off her. His tongue was relentless and her thighs trembled harder, her feet pressing deeper into his back and her fingers tugging harder on his hair. He grunted to let her know she needed to let up a little but he refused to remove his mouth from her.

But she was too lost to the sensations he was creating. She lifted her hips and cried out, his name falling from her lips as she felt her orgasm slam into her hard and fast. Her entire body convulsed as the pleasure surged through her, rolling from head to toe before settling and pulsing between her thighs, right where his tongue was lashing at her. She tightened her thighs around his head and bucked against his face as Walter continued to suck and lick her clit, keeping her orgasm going for as long as she could take the stimulation. Finally she begged him to stop and it was only then that he released her clit and slid his tongue lower again, swiping it over and around her gently.

Walter slid his hands out from beneath her ass and reached for her fingers, tugging them out of his hair and then he pushed her thighs apart, gasping for air as he pulled his mouth away. She had the tendency to try to suffocate him when she orgasmed. Not that he was complaining but more than once he wondered if he would black out before she relaxed her thighs.

Walter turned his face and wiped his mouth against her thigh, which then fell limply to the side and he spent a few minutes pressing soft kisses over her thighs and the tender flesh between them trying to soothe her. Each time his lips pressed softly against her clit, her body jerked and she moaned inaudibly. Walter smiled smugly as he rose from his knees and slowly moved up her body, his lips leaving a wet trail over her skin.

He pushed his boxers down and kicked them away as he gripped her hips and pushed her up into the center of the bed and crawled over her. She was flushed and panting, with a slight sheen of sweat coating her skin, and she had her arm slung over her face as she caught her breath.

"You okay, love?" he asked with a smirk as he removed his t-shirt and tossed it onto the floor.

She shifted her arm and looked up at him as he hovered over her.

"Don't be so smug; my hormones are heightened right now."

His smirk widened and he chuckled as he gently settled on top of her, his hips resting in the cradle of her thighs and his shaft twitched as it pressed against her, the heat of her and the moisture from the last remnants of her orgasm causing his shaft to twitch and throb.

He buried his face in her neck letting out a sound that was a combination of a hum and a growl. Paige wrapped her arms and legs around him arching her back as his lips traveled slowly over the skin of her throat. A long moan escaped her lips as she felt his chest crush her breasts between them causing her nipples to pulse. Paige rolled her hips, lifting them, urging him to slip inside her, her body eager for more already.

Walter smiled against her as his head just started to breach her entrance. "It's a good thing I warned Ralph to put his earplugs in tonight."

Paige froze beneath him and her arms and legs fell back to the bed.

"Okay, now you've killed the mood." His lips curved wider as his tongue swirled over her pulse point, thinking she was joking but Paige just pushed on his shoulders and tilted her hips down to keep him from pushing any deeper into her. "Walter, I'm serious. Get off."

"Are you kidding me?" Walter pushed up on his hands and looked down at her incredulously.

Paige shook her head and tried to wiggle out from beneath him. "Nope. My hormones turn on and off like a switch when I'm pregnant."

Walter looked down between their bodies, looking at his painfully hard erection as it strained toward her, her lips clinging to his head.

"Aren't you the woman who told me to stop being a prude when I lost my erection in the shower in Tahiti?" Walter said petulantly as he rolled off her and settled on the mattress beside her.

Paige rolled to her side to face him. "That was different," she insisted as she slid her fingers through his hair. She knew he was frustrated and she felt bad, but hearing her son's name while she was still recovering from one of the most intense orgasms of her life was a complete mood killer.

"How was it different?" he asked and frowned as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his groin.

"Because what we were talking about didn't give me an image of my son with a pillow over his face trying to block out the sound of our moans every night."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so loud then," he said grumpily.

The narrowing of her eyes let him know his verbal filter was in the off position.

"I'm not the only one who's loud, you know." Paige pulled her hand back and ran her fingers through her own hair, pulling the sweaty strands away from her face.

"But you're the louder of the two of us," he said more gently as he turned on his side to face her.

She didn't deny it because she knew it was the truth.

"I'm mortified."

He could tell she really was so he reached over and rubbed her hip with his fingers. "You have no reason to be mortified. We're newly married, istn't it only _normal_ , that we engage in sexual intercourse more often than previously."

Paige made a face. "I really hate it when you say that."

"Say what?" Walter looked at her confused.

"Sexual intercourse."

"Why?"

"Because it sounds so formal and mechanical." She could tell from the look on his face that he was about to tell her it was the proper word to connote the act so she continued. "I know you have an aversion to other words or phrases but can you at least just call it _sex_. That, at least, doesn't sound so much like a chore."

While Walter might have been inclined to argue the point with her under different circumstances, the fact that he still wanted to _have sex_ with her before he went to sleep convinced him to shut his mouth.

" _Sex_ with you is by no means a chore," he emphasized the word with a grin as he leaned forward and kissed her.

She bit his bottom lip gently and he opened his mouth, inviting her in. But she just pulled back and looked at him as Walter grumbled softly under his breath.

"You know, I thought something felt different lately but I thought I was just being _girly_."

"Huh?" Walter's fingers flexed against her hip. Touching her was the only thing keeping him from grounded. His body was throbbing and he could still taste her and smell her and it was taking all his restraint to keep from pushing her onto her back and just mounting her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged as she shifted a little closer to him. "I thought I was imagining it and I was just feeling overly amorous because we were newlyweds. But my body feels different and sex felt different when I was pregnant. That should have tipped me off but it's been so long since I've been pregnant."

Walter clenched his teeth at the reminder of Paige having sex when she was pregnant with Ralph. He knew it was illogical but the thought of Drew touching her made Walter want to break something. His fingers pressed more deeply into her hip but she didn't seem to notice. And despite his distaste for the reminder her statement intrigued him.

"How does it feel different?"

"I don't know how to explain it," she shook her head and bit her bottom lip. "Except to say it feels more intense. My body seems to react more intensely to the stimulation."

"It's your heightened hormones," he replied, not having to be a doctor to know that. "Your orgasms have been stronger and more frequent lately."

She smiled amused because, of course, he would notice.

"How do you know that?"

His eyes softened and his hand slid slowly up the side of her body so he could tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Because I've memorized everything about you."

He said it so simply, because that's just what it was, and Paige buried her face in his neck, pressing closer as she hiked her leg over his hip.

"God I love the way you smell," Paige moaned as she brushed her lips against the underside of his jaw.

Walter put his arm around her and tugged her even closer.

"I smell like you right now," he murmured cheekily and she nipped his chin with her teeth in response before pulling his lips to hers and kissing him again.

He took advantage of her hormone's switch back on and slid his hand down the side of her body and rolled her onto her back. Walter kissed her, swallowing her soft hiccup as he moved on top of her and pushed inside her, thankful she didn't push him away again. Paige arched her back and tightened her thighs around his hips, lifting her legs around him once again, as she moaned long and low. Walter grunted as her soft body surrounded him, so warm and wet, and he rocked his hips gently, working more of his hard shaft inside her with each thrust.

Paige's still tender, swollen flesh wrapped around him and she trembled beneath him as his body shuddered from the feeling. She was always so tight right after she orgasmed and the sensation made Walter's eyes want to roll back in his head. He continued to kiss her, their tongues tangling slowly as he pumped his hips, slipping in and out of her with long, slow deep thrusts.

Paige rolled her hips, lifting them, moving with his, their bodies moving in perfect unison, as he made love to her.

It was these moments, when there was nothing between them, both literally and figuratively, that Paige found herself awed that Walter was capable of such passion. It no longer surprised her. But it awed her that she could draw this kind of love and emotion and tenderness out of him when he held everything back in every other aspect of his life.

For several long minutes the only sound in the room was the slight squeaking of the bed beneath them, the faint sound of their lips clinging and releasing, the wet sound of flesh slapping gently and the deep moans that fell from both their lips between kisses. Walter slid his hands down beneath her ass and tilted her hips up, causing Paige to gasp as it increased the intensity of the pleasure coursing through her body as his shaft slid over her clit each time he buried himself inside her.

When the sensation became too much for him and his body was close to release, Walter tore his lips away and buried his face in her neck once again. He began murmuring in Gaelic. Ever since their trip to Tahiti when he admitted to her what he'd been saying against her neck every time they made love, Walter started saying more. She recognized the three familiar words now but they were often said amidst a slew of other unintelligible words that she suspected were also Gaelic. Paige didn't ask him what else he was saying because she knew words were hard for him, and if he'd wanted her to know what he was saying he would say them in English.

He was never going to be a man who would say "I love you" out loud very often, and that was okay. Paige didn't need words from him because he showed her in a hundred different ways everyday of their lives that she was everything. But he also never failed to murmur those three words against her neck, when he found his completion inside her, and she had no doubt that whatever else he was saying was just more of an avowal of his love for her.

"Grá mo shaol." Walter choked out the end of his dialogue with those three meaningful words as his rhythm faltered and then his hips finally stilled. He pumped his seed into her and his warm breath blew over her throat as he panted softly.

"I love you," Paige breathed against his ear, her lips pressing against the shell and Walter's body shuddered on top of her the way if often did when she said those words to him.

"You didn't…" Walter mumbled against her neck.

She took his face in her palms and lifted it out of her neck as she turned him to face her. "It's okay," she said softly as she pulled his lips to hers and tightened her arms and legs around him, holding him.

Paige instinctively rolled her hips beneath him, unable to stop herself. He hissed as her body stroked his extremely sensitive flesh and he pushed up on his hands. "Just give me a minute and I'll-"

Paige pulled his lips down to hers again and he sank into her, into the kiss, but his softening shaft slipped out of her as he rolled them onto their sides.

Paige pulled her lips away and buried her face in his neck as he pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry," he muttered and she just smiled and kissed the hollow of his throat. He started to slip his hand down over her abdomen, intending to finish her but she grabbed it and pulled it back around her.

"I don't want your hand. I want your co-" He kissed her, again, before she could finish, and she moaned into his mouth as he gripped her thigh and lifted it over his hip. His body was still recovering but he wanted her in position so that as soon as it was he could take her again.

He pulled his lips away when oxygen became a necessity and pressed his forehead to hers. He exhaled short breaths and she reached up and caressed his face. Her body was still buzzing and she struggled to remain still when all she wanted to do was press her naked body against his and take him inside her again.

"Paige," he finally spoke, quietly, in almost a whisper. "I know I haven't said anything more about the child but I'm still trying to process it all."

"I know," she said knowingly without opening her eyes. "If anyone can understand trying to come to grips with an unplanned pregnancy, it's me."

He pulled back so he could look at her. "I don't want you to think I'm unhappy…. but I'm just still processing."

Her eyes opened and she could still see the uncertainty in his. She slid her right hand into his hair again and scratched just above his ear. His eyes fluttered closed and he sighed softly. "We have almost nine months to process. It will be okay, Walter. We'll be okay," she soothed as she kissed the corner of his mouth.

"How did you do it with Ralph?" he asked as he opened his eyes again.

"Come to terms with being unexpectedly pregnant?" Paige arched her brows surprised he was asking her this. They'd talked about both of their pasts but he'd never asked her that specific question.

He nodded his head and she shrugged.

"I just did. I was terrified and didn't want to be pregnant. It was the last thing in the world I wanted at that time in my life," she said, having once admitted that truth to him, but every time she said it she was flooded with guilt for ever not wanting the child that had become the love of her life. Walter once told her that guilt was a wasted emotion and it only ate away at you and hindered future productivity. He knew it from experience and he seemed particularly bothered that she carried any kind of guilt about Ralph because she had never been anything but an exceptional parent to him, even before she knew he was a genius.

He started to open his mouth and she knew he was going to repeat himself so she placed her fingers over his lips. "But I'd never change any of it because it brought that incredible child into my life." He kissed her fingertips and she smiled. "And that child brought you into my life," she added with a soft smile.

He pursed his lips as he contemplated her words. "I can't fathom my life if the two of you had never come into it."

Her lips curved mischievously and wanting to lighten the moment she teased. "So I guess you should be grateful to Drew for knocking me up."

Walter made a face and a sound resembling a gag escaped his throat. "I'd rather imagine an immaculate conception despite how impossible that is."

Paige snorted and kissed his chin as she wrapped her arm around his torso.

"Drew came back to the garage this morning," Paige said softly as she shifted a little closer, curling her calf around the back of his thigh.

"I know," Walter murmured as his hand caressed her hip and then slid down over her ass. "We saw him on the cameras."

She looked at him curiously. "If you knew he was here, why didn't you ask me about it?"

Walter shrugged as his fingers continued to caress her skin softly before gripping the cheek of her ass and pulling her closer.

"Were you waiting to see if I would tell you about it?" she asked suspiciously. Even though she just teased him Paige knew how Walter felt about Drew. He claimed not to feel jealous about her ex but it still slipped through at times.

"No," Walter scoffed and she arched her brow at him. "Okay, yes," he admitted reluctantly.

"Why?" she asked and he shrugged again because he had no good reason. Walter didn't doubt Paige's feelings for him anymore but he despised Drew for all he'd done to Paige and Ralph and he wished the baseball coach would just vanish from all their lives.

Paige decided not to push because they both knew the reason. "He wants Ralph to spend more time with him this summer."

"I'm not surprised," Walter said casually and decided it was not the time to elaborate on what Ralph had told him when he returned home, especially now that Ralph wanted to wait to let Paige know about his desired name change.

"I think they're growing apart," Paige said as she wiggled a little closer to him. Her skin was tingling everywhere they touched and she was becoming impatient, waiting for his body to recover, so she very subtly and stealthily started to slip her hand from the small of his back to his hip.

"It was inevitable eventually." Walter looked down at her hand that was crawling over his skin but she could see something in his eyes as he replied. "They're too different and will never fully connect or understand each other."

Paige knew they needed to have another conversation about this but at the moment Walter's answer had double meaning. It was his way of expressing his worry over not connecting with their child if that child was not a genius.

"Walter," she said as she reached up and tilted his face back up to hers. She waited until he met her eyes before she spoke again. "You're an amazing father to Ralph." She reached around and grasped his hand where it was still resting on her ass and pulled it to her stomach. "And you'll be an amazing father to this child."

He didn't even try to pretend he didn't know why she was saying what she was saying to him because she knew him too well. Sometimes that drove him crazy, but at the moment he was grateful she interpreted his meaning. Then again she was his interpreter and she was an incomparable expert at it.

"What if I don't-?" Walter stopped before he finished his thought but Paige didn't need him to finish it.

"You will," she said with so much conviction he was compelled to believe her. She pressed his hand more firmly against her stomach. "Sometimes the most unexpected things are the most meaningful. We did everything practical to prevent this and I still got pregnant. There has to be a reason for that."

"The reason is that I ejaculated inside you one too many times when you were ovulating."

The simplicity with which he said that, combined with the serious look on his face, would have been disturbing if it wasn't so comical. She bit her bottom lip, not wanting to laugh, but her lips twitched anyway.

"Walter, we're a family and we're just adding to it. I promise you'll be okay. We'll be okay."

"Yes," he agreed with a serious nod of his head. "We're a family and all families have unexpected issues, right? You're having a child but even if it wasn't mine I'd still accept it into our family because it's yours."

Most women would be offended if their husband's called their impending child an "unexpected issue" but Paige knew that was just how Walter was able to process. She understood the man in her arms sometimes better than he understood himself. So, instead, Paige snorted and leaned forward to kiss the corner of his mouth. Walter furrowed his brow at her reaction. He was trying to be supportive and she was laughing at him. It didn't seem very appropriate at the moment.

"Is there a reason you're laughing at me?" he asked as he pursed his lips.

Paige chuckled harder as she cupped his face in her hands and nuzzled his cheek.

"Walter, if this child wasn't yours, our family would have much bigger _issues_ that just an unplanned pregnancy."

His lips curved into a wry smirk as he acknowledged the validity of her statement. "I suppose that's accurate."

Paige felt a rush of love for him overwhelm her unexpectedly and she released a breathy moan as she pressed closer, her desire for him skyrocketing for no reason at all. Her body was still unfulfilled and she reached down between them and took his shaft in her hand. He was still soft but as soon as her fingers wrapped around him, he thickened and lengthened.

He clutched her closer and captured her lips. She stroked him from base to tip, tugging the way she knew he liked and he groaned into her mouth as he pushed her onto her back again, moving over her as she guided him into her.

He pushed forward, not completely hard yet but firm enough that he could work his way in, rocking his hips, slipping deeper with each thrust. Paige whimpered into his mouth as she spread her thighs wide, lifting her hips to meet him before she placed her foot on the mattress and used it for leverage as she pushed, turning them over so he was on his back.

Walter let her roll them and gripped her hips so he remained mostly inside her as she sat up. Paige sunk down on him, engulfing him completely, and he grunted again and pressed his fingertips into her flesh, sure he was going to leave bruises.

She was warm and soft and wet and Walter's eyes rolled back a little as she began rocking her hips, rolling them in circles as her body adjusted to his depth and girth.

She'd taken him a little by surprise but he wasn't about to complain. Just her touch had set his entire body alight with lust, which was odd considering the topic of the conversation they were having. But she always knew how to soothe his fears and the way she loved and accepted him still amazed him some days.

He looked up at her as she slowly rolled her hips in circles. Desire for her rolled through him like fire as he watched her head fall back and her eyes fall closed as she rode him. The intensity and frequency with which he desired her could not be normal. He often wondered if it was because of his dense brain and his propensity to become so singularly focused that contributed to the fact that he wanted her relentlessly.

When they first began their sexual relationship, they had both been equally eager, as was apparently expected in a new relationship, and the frequency of their congress was an average of every other day. As time passed, and they fell into their routines and their life together, they maintained what would be considered a healthy sexual relationship by engaging in sexual relations an average of three times a week.

Although he was satisfied with the frequency of their relations, he would willingly have participated more. But he always let her set the pace, primarily because he didn't want to overwhelm her. And he knew despite his unyielding desire for her and his ability to focus mind over matter, the reality was his body could never possibly live up to his hunger for her.

And now he understood it was her pregnancy hormones that made her so virtually insatiable lately. He'd been willing to indulge her, enjoying the more frequent sex, even not knowing the reason or how long he'd be able to keep up.

But when she was over him like that, beautiful and glorious in her passion, confident in her allure, and basking in her knowledge of his desire for her, Walter decided he would willingly push his body's endurance to the absolute limit.

He gripped her hips and tilted her forward as she rolled her hips in wider circles.

"Walter," she moaned his name as she covered his hands with hers. She entwined their fingers and ground down on him. Walter grunted and bucked his hips, lifting them each time she came down on him.

She felt every inch of him filling her as she rode him slowly, short panting breaths escaping her mouth as it fell open. She lifted her head and looked down at him. His eyes were dark and full of longing. He only ever looked at her like that when he was inside her and she reveled in the fact that she was the only woman who ever saw him like that, who would ever see him like that.

Knowing how much he loved her breasts, Paige lifted her hands to cup them, taking her nipples between her thumbs and index fingers. She rolled her nipples and her body clenched around him.

"Paige," Walter groaned her name as her wet flesh gripped him, squeezing him until his eyes wanted to cross. Paige never took her eyes off him as she sped up her rocking, her breasts bouncing gently from her motions. His eyes were glued to her breasts and her lips curved into a sultry smile as she ground her clit against the base of his shaft. The tingling and throbbing inside her was increasing in intensity and she knew she wasn't going to last long.

Walter removed one hand from her hip and moved it between her thighs. Paige's body jerked softly when she felt Walter's fingers on her clit, tickling and teasing her and she surged forward. She leaned over him, pressing her hands into the mattress on either side of his head and her lips found his. She kissed him hard and he opened his mouth to her with an audible grunt as the new angle gripped his hard shaft in such a way that he was sure he was going to blow his load.

Walter pressed his hands into the mattress and sat up before wrapping his arms around Paige and pulling flush against him. Their lips never parted and Paige gripped the sides of his face and kissed him deeper. She whimpered into his mouth again as he grasped her hips in his strong fingers and pushed her down on him as he pushed up, pumping and thrusting his hips.

Their lips parted but neither one pulled back, both panting softly as they exchanged short breaths of air. Paige opened her eyes and saw he was looking at her and she wrapped her arms around him. Their bodies moved slowly, circling in tandem as Paige's nipples rubbed against him. The short coarse hairs on his chest tickled her and her breathing increased, her hips matching the speed and tempo. Walter pumped his hips, burying himself deeply inside her as he felt the first pulsing of her walls around him.

"Walter," Paige whispered his name brokenly against his lips and Walter bucked beneath her.

He groaned and captured her lips again and she convulsed in his arms. Paige felt her orgasm roll over her in long waves, starting low and deep in her belly before spreading outward to every limb in her body. Walter tightened his arms around her as she dropped her head back, chanting his name softly, at first, then louder, as her orgasm seemed to go on forever. He hoped Ralph had his earplugs in.

Walter kept lifting his hips, pumping and thrusting beneath her until he finally felt his orgasm slam into him, his seed erupting and filling her. Paige swallowed his guttural groan in her mouth as she covered his lips with her own, and Walter's body shuddered as he clutched her tight to him.

Their kisses softened, their gasping breaths slowing, until they were just taking gentle sips of each others lips.

Finally Paige's body stopped trembling and Walter flopped onto his back as Paige fell on top of him.

"Oomph," he coughed as all his breath was expelled as she landed on his chest.

"I don't think I'm ever going to walk again," she murmured against his neck, where she'd buried her face.

He chuckled and grunted in agreement. After several minutes of catching their breath, Paige shifted off him and settled against his side.

They lay there in silence for a while as the sweat on their bodies cooled and dried. Walter fluttered his fingertips up and down Paige's bare back and she reached for his left hand, running her fingers over his wedding band.

"I think you should stop wearing it."

He stiffened before he asked. "Why?"

She tilted her head to look at him. "Because you're going to lose it if you keep taking it off all the time."

Walter sighed and frowned. "I told you I'm just not used to it yet. My hands feel off balance when I'm trying to code. I don't type at the same speed when I have it on. But I just have to keep it on so I can get used to it. Once I am I'll be able to code with the same speed."

Paige pressed a soft kiss against his chest. "I won't be upset if you don't wear it, Walter. But I will be furious with you if you lose it," she warned gently. "Because it means something. To me anyway. And I'd rather keep it in my jewelry box than have it disappear forever."

"I want to wear it, Paige," he insisted and surprisingly he meant it. Walter didn't believe in tokens or talismans but having the ring on his finger was a constant reminder of her. Not that he needed something to cause him to think of her. She was in the back of his mind, all the time, no matter what he was doing. But when he'd been at the FBI offices that afternoon, although he primarily kept his eyes on the screen when he typed, every time he looked down, his ring caught his eye. And something about seeing it gave him an entirely content feeling.

"Then if you need to take it off please leave it up here," she asked as her fingers released his hand and she rested them on his chest.

"Ok," he agreed without hesitation and he felt her shift against him before she spoke again.

"Do I really snore every night?"

He nodded his head.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked as she frowned at him.

He shrugged. "It's not loud or bothersome. It's a very quiet, almost snuffling, sound."

"Lovely," she muttered sarcastically.

He chuckled and kissed her temple. "It's kind of cute, love."

She pushed up on her elbow and gave him a stern look. "And while we're on the topic of you not telling me things. Why didn't you tell me you noticed I was putting on weight?"

His eyes opened wide and he chose his next words carefully.

"I may be emotionally deficient but even I know you don't tell a woman she's gaining weight. Besides-," he started to say but then he stopped, deciding against it.

"Besides what?" Paige asked as she arched her brow at him.

"Nothing," he replied quickly and he rolled her onto her back, burying his face in her neck, letting his lips brush softly against her skin. He doubted his body would be able to rise to the occasion again tonight but he still wasn't ready to stop touching her and he just might be able to get her off this topic.

She moaned softly and he smiled sure he'd distracted her but she took his face in her hands and pulled it away from her neck.

"Besides what, Walter?" she asked as she looked at him.

He sighed and reluctantly admitted. "Besides I didn't mind it."

She looked a little surprised and the curiosity in her eyes encouraged him to continue. "I like it." He slid his hands down her sides, his fingertips alternating between fluttering against her skin and gripping the flesh gently. His eyes followed his hands. "I like the way it feels on you. Having a little more of you to grip, I mean," he added as he looked back at her face and she was biting her lip.

"Are you saying I'm too skinny," she asked with a soft smile.

He let his eyes travel down and back up her body again before he answered.

"No, you're body is beautiful, Paige, and it always has been. But you're even more beautiful to me now."

And there was his limited EQ showing up, unexpectedly, as it occasionally did.

"Well, there's going to be a lot more of me to grip in the coming months," she snorted amused.

His fingers flexed against her hip and he buried her face in her neck, again, as a low sound rumbled in the back of his throat. Paige wrapped her arms around him and released a breathy sigh as she wondered just what he would be like as her body changed.

He rolled on top of her and settled between her thighs, resting his head on her breasts as she gently massaged and scratched his scalp gently. He listened to her steady heartbeat, expecting her to fall asleep quickly, as was her norm. But it was almost twenty minutes later when her heart rate sped up and he lifted his head off her chest to look at her.

Her eyes were dilated and he instantly recognized the signs. She wasn't sated yet, her body was once again ripe and ready for him and Walter wondered if a pregnant Paige Dineen O'Brien was going to put him in an early grave.

Her hands were all of a sudden everywhere again and he shifted so he could kiss her again. He slipped his hand down her stomach and over her mound, slipping his fingers over her heated flesh again. He continued to kiss her as his fingers worked their magic and she grasped his hand and pushed his finger lower, urging him to slip them inside her. He obliged her and as she rocked against his hand, they were both surprised when his body reacted and started pressing insistently against her thigh.

Before contemplating the ramifications of what one more attempted orgasm may do to his body, Walter pushed her thighs apart and pushed inside her. Paige rolled her hips and arched her back as he sunk into her and she inhaled a shuddering breath as she pressed her lips against the shell of his ear.

"I love you, Walter," she breathed, telling him a second time, as their bodies began moving in unison again. He choked her name, unable to articulate anything else, as he willed his body not to fail him or her.

When he finally left her sated, sleeping and lightly snoring in their bed almost forty five minutes later, Walter was surprised his legs could hold him up.

############

"Ahhh, so the man can still walk. I'm impressed with your stamina 197."

Toby sat at the table in the first floor kitchen smirking at Walter as he hobbled into the room.

"Toby, if you start down that road I can assure you, you will not like my reaction," Walter warned in a dangerous tone.

Toby rolled his eyes. "Oh calm down, daddy to be. I'm just teasing."

"You don't want to go down that road either." Walter's tone became slightly more dangerous.

"You've had the missus squealing for the last couple of hours. I don't envy Ralphy boy. That kid wasn't kidding about needing ear plugs," Toby kept pushing because he could see Walter was about to lose it. Sometimes he was just too easy to tease.

"Toby, enough!" Walter snapped as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"You could have at least combed your sex hair if you didn't want to give me any ammunition," Toby snorted as he tossed a potato chip into his mouth.

Walter quickly reached up and ran his fingers through his hair patting it down. Paige had tugged on it pretty hard when he was using his mouth on her and she tended to leave his hair in complete disarray when he was done.

"What are you doing back here anyway?" Walter asked as he leaned against the counter and took a swig of his water. "Did Happy kick you out again?"

Toby scowled. "I don't want to talk about it. But I'm probably going to crash in the Airstream for a few nights."

Walter didn't ask him to elaborate because he'd learned, the hard way, not to get into the middle of them when they were fighting.

"You know, Mrs. O'Brien is on to something with this salty sweet thing," Toby murmured appreciatively as he dipped another chip into the bowl of chocolate ice cream. "Kinda like the two of you."

"What are you talking about Toby?" Walter asked, shaking his head with exasperation. Sometimes he just didn't get the shrink.

" _Salty sweet_ ," Toby grinned as he emphasized the words Drew had said earlier. "You're salty and she's sweet. Yet you go perfectly together."

Walter scoffed and just walked toward his desk to grab his laptop as Toby chuckled behind him.

He had been going to lambast Toby for being ridiculous but for once he agreed with his friend.

He and Paige did go perfectly together.

 _ **The end… for now.**_

* * *

Thanks again for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed. Although I have numerous ideas and even several stories outlined and some partially written, I am taking another hiatus from writing. My health has once again become challenging and I need to focus on that. Thanks for your understanding….. but I'll be back eventually. Thanks, as always, for all your kind words and enthusiasm for my stories. It is truly humbling and it makes my heart happy.


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